The Voice attracted almost a million viewers fewer on Saturday than its debut last year despite a new-look panel including Boy George and Paloma Faith.
The debut of the fifth series of the BBC1 show, which is moving to ITV next year, attracted an average of 7.1 million viewers and a 32% share of the total TV audience between 7.30pm and 9.05pm.
Viewing was well down on the 8 million average audience that tuned in to watch the the launch of the 2015 season of The Voice.
And it was almost 1.5 million viewers down on the 2014 series launch which managed an average audience of 8.4 million, thanks to the star power of former judge Kylie Minogue who helped bring in 2 million more viewers than the 6.24 million that watched the 2013 debut.
In 2012, the first year The Voice UK aired, an average of 8.4 million tuned in.
This year’s judging panel includes old hands Ricky Wilson and Will.i.am, with George and Faith filling the shoes of Tom Jones and Rita Ora, who defected to rival ITV’s The X Factor.
The Voice’s relatively poor debut is the latest sign that viewers are starting to tire of the talent show format following the most recent series of Simon Cowell’s X Factor attracting the lowest audience for a launch show in a decade.
The X Factor 2015’s debut episode attracted an average of 7.6 million viewers, meaning it outperformed the return of The Voice by 500,000 viewers.
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